초록 ▼

Robots for autonomous harvesting of hydroponically grown organic matter with different harvesters are disclosed. The autonomous harvesting involves using one or more robots to (1) navigate a hydroponics arrangement or environment to arrive at locations of harvestable organic matter, (2) identify mat

Robots for autonomous harvesting of hydroponically grown organic matter with different harvesters are disclosed. The autonomous harvesting involves using one or more robots to (1) navigate a hydroponics arrangement or environment to arrive at locations of harvestable organic matter, (2) identify mature organic matter for harvesting from under-ripe or over-ripe organic matter using the robot's sensors, (3) identify the irregular positions and the irregular extraction points at which the mature organic matter is to be correctly harvested using the robot's sensors, (4) harvest the organic matter at the identified positions using the robot harvester, and (5) place the extracted organic matter into a storage bay for delivery to a packaging or shipment station. The harvester includes one or more of a vacuum, gripper, cutting saw, or clipping shears disposed about a distal end of an extendable or mechanical arm mounted atop a lift.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A robot comprising: a motorized base;an expandable and collapsible lift mounted atop and at a back of the motorized base, the lift vertically raising and lowering to a plurality of heights;a pivoting first actuator connected to a top of the lift;an extendable second actuator with a proximal end d

1. A robot comprising: a motorized base;an expandable and collapsible lift mounted atop and at a back of the motorized base, the lift vertically raising and lowering to a plurality of heights;a pivoting first actuator connected to a top of the lift;an extendable second actuator with a proximal end directly connected to the pivoting actuator, and a distal end that extends out from the proximal end, wherein the extendable second actuator rotates above the lift by operation of the pivoting first actuator;a harvesting third actuator connected at the distal end of the extendable second actuator;a storage bay mounted atop and at a front of the motorized base, the storage bay comprising a container with walls rising from the motorized base in front of said lift to a first height, the storage bay further comprising a sloped solid surface that is connected to a wall closest to the lift at the first height, and that extends from the first height at an angle towards the lift to a greater second height that is below the harvesting third actuator; anda processor controlling said lift to adjust the harvesting third actuator to a particular height aligned with at least one item of harvestable organic matter from a plurality of organic matter growing on a vine, plant, or tree, and further controlling one or more of the lift, the pivoting first actuator, the extendable second actuator, and the harvesting third actuator in separating the at least one item of harvestable organic matter from the vine, plant, or tree and depositing the at least one item of harvestable organic matter into the storage bay after said separating. 2. The robot of claim 1 further comprising a set of sensors imaging or scanning a plurality of organic matter growing on the vine, plant, or tree. 3. The robot of claim 2, wherein the processor further differentiates a first set of harvestable organic matter and a different second set of organic matter that is not harvestable from the plurality of organic matter based on said imaging or scanning from the set of sensors. 4. The robot of claim 1, wherein the motorized base comprises wheels, at least a first motor driving the wheels, and batteries powering said first motor, wherein the processor further controls the first motor in moving the robot across a plurality of racks from which a plurality of vines, plants, or trees are grown. 5. The robot of claim 1, wherein the harvesting third actuator comprises a mechanical arm. 6. The robot of claim 1, wherein the harvesting third actuator comprises mechanical clipping shears coupled at the distal end of the extendable second actuator. 7. The robot of claim 6, wherein the extendable second actuator extracts the at least one item of harvestable organic matter by (i) positioning the clipping shears adjacent to the at least one item of harvestable organic matter with activation of the extendable second actuator and (ii) cutting the at least one item of harvestable organic matter from the vine, plant, or tree as a result of activating the mechanical clipping shears in a manner so that the at least one item of harvestable organic matter falls into the storage bay. 8. A robot comprising: a motorized base;a set of sensors generating at least a first set of sensory input from imaging or scanning visual identifiers distributed about a site and a second set of sensory input from imaging or scanning a plurality of edible organic matter growing at a particular rack of a plurality of racks in said site;a lift extending vertically above the motorized base from a back of the motorized base;a pivoting first actuator connected to a top of the lift;an extendable second actuator with a proximal end directly connected to the pivoting first actuator, and a distal end that extends out from the proximal end, wherein the extendable second actuator rotates above the lift by operation of the pivoting first actuator;an organic matter harvester connected at the distal end of the extendable second actuator;a storage bay mounted atop and at a front of the motorized base, the storage bay comprising a container with walls rising at an angle to a first height from the front of the motorized base towards said lift, the storage bay further comprising a sloped solid surface that extends at the angle from the first height to a greater second height below the organic matter harvester; anda processor communicably coupled to the motorized base, the set of sensors, the pivoting first actuator, the extendable second actuator, and the organic matter harvester, wherein the processor controls the motorized base in moving said robot to the particular rack based on the first set of sensory input; andwherein the processor further controls the first pivoting actuator, the extendable second actuator, and the organic matter harvester in: moving to an extraction point for edible organic matter at the particular rack that is identified from the second set of sensory input,engaging the edible organic matter that is attached to a plant, tree, or vine at the extraction point with the organic matter harvester based in part on a first set of adjustments to one or more of a height of the lift, a length of the extendable second actuator, and rotation of the extendable arm by the pivoting first actuator,separating the edible organic matter from the extraction point while continuing to engage the edible organic matter with the organic matter harvester,releasing the edible organic matter over the sloped solid surface of storage bay based in part on a different second set of adjustments to one or more of the height of the lift, the length of the extendable second actuator, and the rotation of the extendable arm by the pivoting first actuator. 9. The robot of claim 8, wherein the processor determines the extraction point based in part on detecting from the second set of sensory input, the edible organic matter matching a threshold size, shape, and coloring and other edible organic matter from the plurality of edible organic matter not matching at least one of the threshold size, shape, and coloring. 10. The robot of claim 8, wherein the set of sensors comprises one or more of an imaging camera, a depth camera, a scanner, and a range finder. 11. The robot of claim 8, wherein the storage bay comprises motorized doors opening prior to said releasing and closing after the edible organic matter transfer from the sloped solid surface into the storage bay.